and that's where john boehner is refusing to start out in the negotiations. also, the person who is missing from the sound bites we just say, the video we saw was mitch mcconnell, the republican leader of the senate. he's up in 2014. he's got rand paul, a tea party guy, as his other republican senator in the state. mcconnell's worried about a challenge from the right to the point where he hired rand paul's campaign manager who was ron paul's campaign manager to be his mcconnell campaign manager coming up. so mitch mcconnell is the missing piece of the puzzle here. he's the person the president has had the least success in dealing with. they have no personal relationship whatwhatsoever, th president and john boehner played golf once or twice. boehner as a person is of a more amenable guy. the white house wants a deal, and the reason they want a deal is because of the economy. if we get tangled up here in d.c. and go over the cliff or down the gradual slope, it's not -- it's not going to be good for the economy. there are people waiting to invest. there's a wor